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Monday, May 13, 2013

Xavier

Seen on the
Metra train to Chicago at about 7:45 a.m.

You
see, the important thing is to have a good attitude. Yeah, it’s Monday morning.
Yeah, it’s early. But it’s sunny outside and it’s getting warmer. Besides, we’re
all stuck on this train together, so we might as well get along.

A
lot of the passengers remind me of my ex-wife. Negativity, negativity,
negativity. Oh, you have a stressful meeting? That’s too bad. Left your iPad at
home? How tragic. They act like they’ll never survive.

I
left my ex-wife, but I can’t leave my passengers unless I want to leave my
paycheck, too. So the drearier their frown, the brighter my smile. They take out
their frustration on me, I respond with sugary-sweet kindness. On the other
hand, when someone’s nice to me—a nod or a “good morning”—I go even further.
Sometimes I just happen to overlook the polite people when I’m collecting
ticket money.

Can’t do that forever, though. I think my
regular customers are catching on. Or perhaps my happiness is wearing off on
them.

I always feel like my Metra stories are rather uninspired. Meh. On the bright side, yesterday I finished the first draft of a story that I've been working on for a while. Time to edit, edit, edit.